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[Keith Komos]

Hope some of you guys can help me. I've purchased 8 slimPar56 Chauvet cans and an Obey70 to control them. I'm fairly certain I've got my DMX situated ok on all the systems (all set to 7 channel, spaced them out by multiples of 32), but I can only get two of my slimpars to work reliably in a chain.

When tested individually, only 4 out of the 8 even work with DMX (2 don't respond to the Obey70 at all, and two have a terrible flicker even when they're the only fixture in the chain and they're terminated). What's odd is that when chained together without a controller, they all work in Master/Slave mode with each other. I've been wondering if the controller is the issue.

I eliminated cabling as a problem by purchasing 30 different cables to systematically eliminate cabling as an issue.

I also purchased a splitter (Chauvet DataStream 4) to at least control the ones that work individually. Lo and behold, the Chauvet splitter doesn't work at all. The LED indicator for each of the 4 channels works, but there's no signal at all going through. I do get a signal with the "Thru" output on the splitter, which doesn't surprise me because it's not isolated like the other 4.

Like I said, I suspect the controller might be the source of some of these issues, but if that's the case, I'm hesitant to spend even more money after two of my slimPars won't respond to any DMX commands at all, the splitter won't work, and at that point it would be assumed that the Obey70 doesn't work. I've got my eye on the DMXIS controller from Enttec but dang, I've already dropped so much time and money and all I have are two controllable lights. The vendor seems good about returns but I just want to get this going in time for Halloween.

Any advice? I'd like to add some Chauvet Intimidators to my rig but I need a working chain first. Thanks for reading.

[Dave Garoutte]

I would start by setting ALL the fixtures to channel 1 and see if you can control them with the first bank.

[duane massey]

What Dave said. Set them to "001", test each one individually straight from the controller.

[Keith Komos]

Thanks for the replies Dave and Duane. I've tried setting their address to 001 and testing from the first bank as a group and individually with only one line out, terminated and not terminated, with a variety of different cables and I can only get four of them to work. Two don't respond to the Obey70 at all and two have intermittent flicker even when they're the only ones in the chain.

I'm buying a new controller and a new splitter of a different brand to try some things out on that end. Also with cables virtually eliminated as the culprit and the terminator absorbing any reflections, unless the controller is firing something weird, the flicker might be a timing issue. The Obey70 only uses 384 DMX channels, I'm wondering if that's dragging the protocol's timing in one direction or the other just enough to mess with some of these bad units. I set the starting addresses of the bad units to different banks on the Obey70 to see if I could force a correction in that regard, in similar protocols sometimes using higher addresses will stabilize the transmission rate or refresh rate. No luck there but it was a long shot. The DMXIS will let me manually set a refresh rate. I know there's much more to DMX timing than that but it's a new variable I'll be able to set.

Thanks again, I'll post an update if I make progress.

[Steve Garris]

Thanks for the replies Dave and Duane. I've tried setting their address to 001 and testing from the first bank as a group and individually with only one line out, terminated and not terminated, with a variety of different cables and I can only get four of them to work. Two don't respond to the Obey70 at all and two have intermittent flicker even when they're the only ones in the chain.

I'm buying a new controller and a new splitter of a different brand to try some things out on that end. Also with cables virtually eliminated as the culprit and the terminator absorbing any reflections, unless the controller is firing something weird, the flicker might be a timing issue. The Obey70 only uses 384 DMX channels, I'm wondering if that's dragging the protocol's timing in one direction or the other just enough to mess with some of these bad units. I set the starting addresses of the bad units to different banks on the Obey70 to see if I could force a correction in that regard, in similar protocols sometimes using higher addresses will stabilize the transmission rate or refresh rate. No luck there but it was a long shot. The DMXIS will let me manually set a refresh rate. I know there's much more to DMX timing than that but it's a new variable I'll be able to set.

Thanks again, I'll post an update if I make progress.

Based on what you're telling us I would suspect the (4) lights to be the problem, not the controller. Also, you mention DMXIS in your last paragraph. Are you using that as well?

[Dave Garoutte]

I just remembered that I have had some weird problems when the little (polarity?) switch on the back was in the wrong position.

I doubt that there are timing issues.

You shouldn't need the terminator for one at a time tests.

I'm with Steve, that it's probably a fixture issue.

I've had a bad fixture somewhere in the chain cause problems for the whole chain.

[Keith Komos]

Thanks for the replies. To answer Steve's question, I don't have a DMXIS controller yet but I've ordered one. I was going to order one anyway since I can preprogram MIDI CC parameters to control DMX channels to get better fades from my humble lighting rig. With the Obey70 all I can do is use MIDI note on messages to trigger preprogrammed scenes.

To Dave, thank you for the polarity idea. I tried that with each individual light and didn't get any new results unfortunately.

I borrowed another controller from a friend and got much less flickering on two of the malfunctioning lights but at this point I agree with the diagnosis on the thread, something in four of the lights isn't handling DMX correctly.

Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

[Rich Grisier]

Have you tried using a terminator on the last fixture in the DMX path? Even when using one or two fixtures, a terminator might be needed. I used to use a couple Chauvet 4-Bar lights. I found if I didn't have a terminator in place the lights would not always respond correctly.

[Debbie Dunkley]

This would be my troubleshooting method to start...
1) MAKE sure all the fixtures are set to the same DMX address - choose 001,
2)  Also set each fixture to the same channel count program (3 or 7 on those fixtures),
3) Test each one separately using the same cable each time not changing the programming in either the controller or the fixtures in between,
If the 4 are still not working then it has to be a problem with the fixtures....

[Jeff Lelko]

Hi Keith, I agree with Debbie - 4 bad fixtures out of 8 is rare.  I’ve seen stranger things happen, but unless you got a bad batch of fixtures this is very unlikely. 

While I don’t disagree with using a terminator (you always should), if installing one on a system this basic solves the problem there’s usually something else wrong that runs much deeper.  It can’t hurt to try it though! 

My money would be on a cable problem (despite you ruling them out - proper DMX cables I take it?) or a controller problem.  A weak DMX signal would explain why some fixture work and others don’t, in addition to your splitter not functioning correctly.  Along the lines of a controller problem, a fixture that’s corrupting DMX signal passing through it or leaking stray voltage into your cables will cause symptoms like this.  For what it’s worth, the Obey series of controllers are not held in terribly high regards.  This is usually due to cumbersome programming, but once in a while I hear of them involved with issues such as what you describe.

As painful as it will be, I’d suggest numbering each fixture and cable and start trying different combinations until you find a common trend.  Good luck!

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